This biography of charismatic con man James Strang is as opulently unbelievable as only true stories can be. Researcher/storyteller extraordinaire Miles Harvey deftly evokes the uproarious atmosphere of antebellum America, setting the stage for an unknown atheist from rural New York to become a Mormon prophet and the surprisingly influential "King of Earth and Heaven" on an island in Lake Michigan. Dumbfoundingly fascinating, The King of Confidence is also oddly comforting in its reminder that there have always been powerful madmen and that "the times" have always been crazy! (CH)